Blogs

MEL BAKER

BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Mel’s areas of expertise:

Wholesale / Inbound Travel Industry | Product Development | Content | Destination Marketing | Digital Marketing

Mel has a degree in International and Hotel Management from the University of Queensland.

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SUSIE BARTLETT

FINANCE OFFICER

Susie brings more than 40 years’ experience working for small business in finance to the Koncept Konnect team.  Her expertise is in financial health checks, restoring balance and implementing systems that work.

Her passion is to assist business and individuals to develop systems to benefit their financial outcome, and ultimately grow their business.

Susie holds a Business Administration and Management, General RMIT University

SHELLEY BEAVER

SOCIAL + COMMUNICATIONS

Shelley is our Social Communications Co-ordinator and will work with you to plan and execute digital campaigns that your customers will love. Taking a creative and yet hands-on approach, Shelley can manage your social media channels including Facebook and Instagram, coordinate EDM campaigns, manage your online competitions and targeted paid Facebook promotions and assist with online reputation management i.e. TripAdvisor. She and her team can produce engaging website content including blogs, articles and destination marketing, to improve your online presence, increase brand awareness & consumer relationships and encourage direct bookings.

Shelley is also an integral part of ‘Web Work that Works’ where she and her team create dynamic tourism and hospitality industry websites designed to generate bookings, create leads, optimise Search Engine Optimisation and build your brand presence.

With a solid grounding in the advertising industry and over a decade of experience managing social media and communications within the hospitality industry, Shelley is one of Koncept Konnect’s original team members. She has led the social media and communications team since 2013 and before this was with Kim Jeffrey Sales & Marketing for 4 years.

When not working online, you’ll find Shelley travelling, swimming, enjoying the Gold Coast’s beautiful beaches and spending time with her young family.

Shelley’s areas of expertise:

Social media marketing and management I Strategic digital and content marketing I Web content and development I Blog and copy writing

She holds a Diploma of Publishing in Professional Book Editing, Proofreading and Publishing.

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MARY-ANNE SMITH

BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Mary-Anne brings 16 years airline and wholesale tourism experience to the Koncept Konnect Team. She has previously worked with one of Australia’s largest wholesalers as a Product Co-ordinator specialising in the Australian Domestic Markets, co-ordinating brochures and packages.

This role saw her build and maintain relationships with Hoteliers and Management Rights Owners particularly in the Gold Coast region. She has fantastic people skills and works hard to hone in what our clients really need for their business in order to thrive. You will love Mary-Anne’s attention to detail, it is second to none, having been honed while working in brochure production over many years.

During her time away from work Mary-Anne enjoys, watching her teenage sons play sports, getting away to the beach for weekends and reformer pilates classes (not necessarily in that order).

HILARY COBBETT

SALES CO-ORDINATOR

Hilary brings to Koncept Konnect her extensive experience in both the travel and tourism sectors. Originally from the United Kingdom, she began her career working for two major tour operators attaining the position of Operations Manager, and responsibility for a team of up to 40 people.

After making the move to Western Australia from the UK, Hilary spent 16 years working for domestic wholesaler, Great Aussie Holidays as Product Manager, followed by a short stint with an online wholesaler where she was responsible for contracting, rate negotiation and product loading.

Hilary’s forte is tourism sales and marketing coupled with a strong background in the hotel sector. She has worked as a Business Development Consultant for the Goodearth and Perth Ambassador Hotels for six years, undertaken a contract marketing consultancy role for a property in Margaret River, and been the Business Development Manager for the Metro Hotel Group in the Metro Hotel Perth.

Hilary prides herself on knowing her product. She has a reputation for building strong business relationships and for her ability to get the job done. You’ll enjoy working with her!

When not at Koncept Konnect, Hilary loves playing and watching sport, going to the beach and walking her Golden Retriever. She is also a committee member of SKAL Perth International, a professional organisation of tourism leaders around the world that unites all branches of the travel and tourism industry.

Hilary specialises in:
Business development I OTA and revenue strategy I Corporate, wholesale and inbound sales I Stakeholder relationship management I Contract negotiation I Product management

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DEBRA KRUK

BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Debra brings to Koncept Konnect more than 40 years’ experience in the travel industry, in both the wholesale and retail sector. Originally from Roma in Queensland, Debra began her working career as a nurse but soon realised that it wasn’t for her and started travelling the world.

This passion for travel led to a career in the tourism and travel industry. Debra started off in wholesale reservations, did a short stint in the travel retail sector and then spent the last 20 years working as the Business Development Manager for two major wholesale companies. During this time she worked closely with international tour operators, tourism bodies and airlines; and travelled to, and promoted, Africa as an once-in-a-lifetime tourist destination to the Queensland tourism industry.

Debra’s forte is sales and marketing. She has strong business acumen and is attentive, communicative, professional and personal. She prides herself on knowing her product and has a reputation for building strong business relationships and for her ability to get the job done. You’ll enjoy working with her!

Debra is the proud mother of three adult children each with successful careers. When not at Koncept Konnect, she keeps herself extremely busy enjoying everything Brisbane inner city living has to offer with her friends, and colleagues from the Queensland tourism industry.

Debra specialises in:
Business development I Destination sales and marketing I Client and business liaison I Training + presentations I Public speaking I Stakeholder relationship management

KIM JEFFREY

DIRECTOR

Kim has a passion for providing high quality, customised services that will assist you to increase your online presence, grow your business, increase business returns and enhance customer experience; and draws on her extensive experience across a variety of strata title properties and resorts, ski companies, hotels and tourism in general.

She understands the real challenges being faced by businesses in the hospitality and tourism industries. She excels at solving business problems and using her expertise to improve a business’s viability in this every-changing and uncertain economy. Her business philosophy is drawn from over 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry, and through having owned and operated several Gold Coast apartment accommodation businesses.

Kim launched Koncept Konnect in 2013, and since then has provided tailored and customised online marketing and sales solutions to businesses around Australia and overseas; everything from luxury accommodation houses and strata title apartments through to resorts and 200+ room hotels.

She loves to stay in regular contact with her clients and sees this as an integral part of the Koncept Konnect service.

In her downtime you’ll find her snow skiing, at the beach, keeping fit and spending time with her family.

Kim specialises in:

Property management I Branding and positioning I e-commerce I Simplification and increase in business process improvement and software solutions I Strategic alliances I Promotions I business

She holds a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University, Sydney.

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MAY MICHELUTTI

BUSINESS CONSULTANT

May is one of the newest members to the Koncept Konnect team. She migrated to Australia from the Philippines in 2011, and since then has immersed herself into the tourism and hospitality industry. She’s an experienced sales and marketing professional and has acquired a wealth of industry knowledge from a multitude of industries including real estate, insurance, wholesale distribution and the hospitality industry.

Prior to joining Koncept Konnect May held a position as a regional sales and marketing coordinator for Staywell, one of the largest hotel management groups in Asia Pacific.

May’s goal is to always be a part of the solution that will assist and ensure her clients business goals and objectives are achieved. She is extremely affable, and a great asset to the Koncept Konnect team and our clients.

Whilst May enjoys travelling, she also enjoys staying at home where she can indulge her love of gardening, being creative and spending time with her family and their lovely dog.

May specialises in:

Microsoft Office Applications I CRM I Sales administration I Marketing I Customer service I Wholesale and inbound tourism I Sales contracting and using online platforms

May holds a Bachelor Degree in Information Management (with honours) and a Diploma in Marketing.

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NAOMI PUCKO

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Naomi brings a wealth of experience to Koncept Konnect. She started out studying tourism at the James Cook University in North Queensland, during which time she built up a solid set of skills drawn from a range of hotel areas including food and beverage, reception, housekeeping and reservations. Fresh out of university and keen to use her skills she landed a job working for QANTAS in wholesale holiday reservations, and the marketing and training divisions, for 13 years.

Prior to joining the Koncept Konnect team, Naomi worked for 10 years with a small independently owned group of hotels developing strategies to optimise OTA technology (that’s industry jargon for Online Travel Agencies). During this time she honed her knowledge about the increasing role that the OTA market plays and how to maintain visibility to consumers in an ever-growing accommodation and conference market. 

Naomi is a whizz at OTAs and can help you get the best value from your OTA listings and then convert those guests to direct bookers in the future. She is passionate about making clients lives easier and helping then navigate their way through the land of OTAs.

When not at work she describes herself as a total ‘soccer’ mum with 3 sports-loving teenagers. She’d also love more spare time so that she can read, practice Pilates and meditate more often!

Naomi specialises in:

OTAs I Relationship management I Issues management I Siteminder and Travelclick/iHotelier systems I distribution channels I third party site online presence management | Microsoft Office Applications

She holds a Bachelor of Administration (Tourism & Commerce) from James Cook University, Townsville.

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MELISSA JONES

CLIENT CO-ORDINATOR

Melissa is a former senior product co-ordinator within the wholesale sector, and brings to Koncept Konnect broad experience as a marketing and tourism business development manager. Hailing from Western Australia (WA), she has been lucky enough to work on some extraordinary experiences including specialist marine cruises, scenic flights over the remote waters off the Kalbarri coastline and unique tours showcasing WA.

In her capacity as a business development manager she has worked with a variety of tour operators successfully delivering a wide range of experiences from cray fishing tours through to action-packed 4WD sand dune adventures.

Melissa brings to any project a wealth of knowledge in regard to business development, product distribution and strategic sales management. She is passionate about what she does, and can assist you to develop and distribute your product through a range of channels, including but not limited to, online travel agents, and inbound tour operators. She will help you distribute and grow your business in a sustainable nature, with a keen focus on maximising your return on investment.

When not at work Melissa loves nothing better than getting up early in the morning to walk her dogs, and taking off on the weekends in the caravan exploring what Western Australia has to offer.

Melissa specialises in:

Wholesale/inbound tourism industry I Tourism distribution processes I Business development I Product development and distribution

She holds a Certificate IV in Tourism, Tourism and Hospitality.

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DESIRÉE SHEEHAN

BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Desirée has 25 years’ experience in a broad range of disciplines from marketing, communications and media management through to web development, stakeholder engagement and public relations. She has delivered state-based, national and international marketing and communications campaigns and has had extensive experience in providing strategic communications advice and services to a broad range of clients in Australia and the U.K. Before joining Koncept Konnect, Desirée managed digital marketing and corporate communications for the multi award-winning Smart Cities team at The City of Newcastle.

As one of the Social and Communications team, Desirée can produce content across a variety of channels including your website and social media channels that will engage your existing clients, build brand awareness, draw traffic to your website and assist you to attract a new client base.

Desirée enjoys travelling to remote locations around the world with her husband where they can enjoy different cultures and cuisines, and experience unique wildlife in its natural environment.

Desirée specialises in:

Web content I Blog and copy writing I Social media I Digital and content marketing

She holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts, UNSW Art and Design, and a Certificate IV in Frontline Management.

SHIRENE PERRY

BUSINESS CONSULTANT

Shirene landed in Australia from New Zealand more than 15 years ago and has been heavily involved in the Management Rights industry. She started out as the onsite manager of a large international student accommodation facility in Brisbane’s South Bank before moving to the Gold Coast where she worked for a variety of holiday resorts ranging in size from 30 to 100 units.

When the time was right, she co-purchased her own management rights holiday building on the Gold Coast. As owner/operator Shirene was responsible for management and day-to-day operations, accounting, digital marketing and client liaison.

Shirene understands what it takes to own and run a property in the tourism sector and brings this wealth of first-hand experience and knowledge to the Koncept Konnect team. She can work with you to grow and optimise your property management systems, provide strategic advice on third-party property management and navigate the world of channel managers, Levart and Siteminder; all the while focussing on achieving growth and the outcomes you want.

Outside of work Shirene works on her ‘Bucket list’. She has already ticked off a few items. She’s cruised on the Panama Canal and the Yangtze, visited the Terracotta Warriors, visited the Taj Mahal and walked the Great Wall of China!

Shirene’s areas of expertise:

Property management and administration I Property management systems (Hirum and Ezy-rez) I Channel managers Levart, Hisite & Siteminder I Third party site management/online travel agents

Shirene holds a Full Nationally Accredited Real Estate License.

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